Cambodian Cuisine: 3 key ingredients

It might not be Cambodia’s fault. Expecting Khmer cuisine to compete after a mind-blowing 2 day food fest in Bangkok might just not be fair. Apparently some consider Cambodian cuisine to be a poor cousin to both Vietnamese and Thai cooking… And based on our experience it’s hard to disagree!  

That said, in 9 days here we have managed to eat a delicious thing or two, and can now make 3 recommendations on how Khmer Cuisine is best enjoyed. 

1.  Eat only the freshest seafood.

The food in Kep, Cambodia was amazing but it turned out that even the uber-fresh seafood we’d been eating in the market could be beat. Rabbit Island, a 20 minute ferry ride from Kep was taking fresh to a whole ‘nother level. The island is quiet, stunning, and has massages for $8 on the beach. Who could ask for more, right?? 

Well… See that water below? When you order lunch they go into the water and GET IT FOR YOU. 

We were so famished from a beautiful (but scratchy and branch filled) 2 hour walk around the island that we forgot to take a picture of the before… So here’s the after: 

We feasted on boiled crabs pulled out of the waters when we ordered them, shrimp with Khmer spices and coconut milk, and a fresh grilled fish served with a local Kampot pepper, salt and lime dipping sauce.  It was so unbelievably simple, fresh and delicious that I give it the top spot on my list of things I ate in Cambodia! 

We stuffed ourselves silly on this $18 feast, and may have needed a nap to follow. 

So that’s the first ingredient in delicious Cambodian cuisine: fresh, fresh, and fresh.   

2.  Our next food reco, surprisingly…  Close your eyes. 

Jay often talks about wanting to go to O Noir at home, where you eat in the dark. As a picky eater with control issues, this sounds like my worst nightmare. But, when I saw that there was a restaurant like this in Phnom Penh where we’d be celebrating his birthday, I figured why not? 

In retrospect, there were a number of why nots… Because we’re in a foreign country, and do we really want someone leading us into a dark room?… Because the food here isn’t up to the sanitary standards were used to, so seeing what we’re eating isn’t a bad idea… Or because even though we feel safe in Cambodia, Phnom Penh is a big city with a much higher crime rate, and rendering ourselves helpless seems less than savvy! Why not, indeed.  

Luckily, dinner proved to be both safe, and tasty.  Jay dined on the International menu, while I had the vegetarian set.  Eating in the dark took a bit of getting used to (and there was an ingredient in my main course that I could not get out of my mouth fast enough… Still not sure what it was!) but it was an interesting experience. As a cynic who reads too much news though, I found the moments between courses most unnerving. When jay and I weren’t providing a play by play of our meals and how we had managed to get the food into our mouths, there was silence and the occasional footstep. It was scary to be so unaware and out of control of what was happening right near us. 

After dessert, there seemed to be many footsteps. And a bit of chatter as well. I raised my elbow defensively by my face and grabbed my bag by my feet not knowing what would happen next, and feared the worst – had we walked into a tourist trap and were about to be mugged?! (In retrospect, not sure they would have fed us 3 delicious courses first… But in the dark, my concerns seemed totally rational). Regardless, the footsteps and chatter revealed themselves momentarily…. When a group of people led by our waiter playing guitar (we found out later) busted into happy birthday for Jay!! It was very sweet, and mildly hysterical.  And then there was cake. 

So that was secret ingredient #2: close your eyes, trust that it will be delicious, and don’t forget to make a wish! 

3. The final eating tip we discovered in Cambodia is in fact a souvenir we look forward to taking home, since the best meal we enjoyed was the one we made ourselves.  

Our cooking class from the Feel Good Cooking School turned out to be a private course for just the 2 of us, with our instructor Nara.  He was instantly informative and cheerful (where was he in Siam Reap when we needed him?!) and after enjoying some of the related coffee shop’s delicious beverages we joined him for a tour of the Kendall Market in Phnom Penh to pick up the last few ingredients. 

This market was full of the freshest of fresh ingredients – fish nearly jumping out of their containers, coconuts being shredded and milked into various concentrations, meat – barely dead – being hacked to bits… This was one of the best markets we’d seen, and Nara answered some of the questions we’d been storing up about fruits, vegetables and life in Cambodia. 

We picked up coconut milk, banana leaves and palm sugar, and headed back to get cooking. We made a sweet and sour sauce full of garlic, chillis and lime for the upcoming salad and spring rolls (adding salt for the salad, not needed for the spring rolls). We shredded taro, carrot and sweet potato and tightly rolled it in fresh rice wrappers into spring rolls.  And we assembled the dessert of pumpkin custard that would take longest to cook.  

Then it was time to make the Amok and we used the largest and heaviest mortar and pestle I’d seen to create a paste of turmeric, kafir lime, shallot, garlic, chilli and lemon grass.  Add to that fresh chili paste, fish sauce, peanuts and palm sugar and there you have it! We made one with fish and one with shrimp and tofu (fresh made as well), and even learned how to make those nifty banana leaf cups that it would get steamed in. 

While the Amok steamed, Chef Kogan swirled together some salad (that’s right, seems Jay CAN make friends with salad!). Mint, pomelo and Prawn salad, to be precise. 

And with that, a feast was born! Here’s a pic of us with our delectable creations and Nara our awesome chef and instructor. We were pretty proud of ourselves over this one, and the meal was genuinely one of the overall best ones we ate in Cambodia. The spring rolls were crunchy. The Amok was rich and peanuty (and spicy!). The salad was tangy and refreshing, and even the pumpkin custard which I wasn’t sold on was tasty and might just be something we make at home. 

So, after a rocky start and some bland, boring meals, simple as 1,2,3 we found the secret ingredients to Cambodian Cuisine! And before wrapping up our culinary insights, it would only be fair to add an honorable mention for something Cambodia deserves full props for: beverages. 
Like coffee…

…And indulgent Iced coffee with sweet (condensed) milk, sweet sugar cane with a lime twist, and now…. ‘Not wine’ (we were so amused with this shelf label in an upscale bottle shop in PP):

And speaking of ‘not Wine’… for Jay’s final birthday festivity, a Cambodian micro-brewery! Yup, not bad for birthday celebrated on the other side of the world. The 5 star Himawari Hotel on the Phnom Pehn waterfront brews their own. A flight on their peaceful patio made for a perfect end to our Cambodian adventures. 

Now, on to Malaysia!